Daily Devotional for Tuesday September 9, 2003

FOX News, football, and the uncontrolled selling of sex in America

(2 Peter 2:18, 1 Timothy 5:6, 2 Peter 2:13, Ecclesiastes 2:1, 5:18, 1 Corinthians 9:27, Romans 13:14, Proverbs 29:3, James 5:5) READ EACH ONE!!!

FOX News, football, and the uncontrolled selling of sex in America. In talking about the uncontrolled selling of sex in America, I could use an easy target like the multi-billion dollar a year pornography industry that operates wide open without any real restrictions, but that would be too easy. How about I hit a little closer to home, a couple of places most of you probably make part of your daily lives, FOX News and football.

On the TV in my office, I have the FOX News channel playing in the background all day long. As most of you know, I am a huge football fan, college and pro. So I am hitting targets that are also a part of my daily life. Let's start with FOX News. They have become the darling and favorite of most people who hold more conservative political beliefs, and their slant on the issues do tend to be more from a Republican perspective. They have become the alternative to the more liberal CNN and MSNBC in the cable news world, and I would imagine most Christians watch FOX News.

Question. Ever wonder why they have absolutely drop dead gorgeous women as on-air talent? We are talking about stunning women, sitting on open sets in in very short skirts. Ever wonder why they sprinkle in throughout their "news," tabloid stories of sex that allow them to show clips that are nearly X-rated? They must have played the Britney/Madonna MTV kiss 1,000 times last week. Even the great Bill O'Reilly has his obligatory porn star, prostitute stories every week.

Look no further than the Chairman of Newscorp that owns FOX News, Rupert Murdoch. Rupert Murdoch is one of the most powerful medial moguls on the planet. The worldwide media holdings of Newscorp are staggering. Included are the sensational NY Post, The Sun in London with their daily topless model, 20th Century Fox movies studios, and the FOX television network that brings us great wholesome family programs in prime time that make a mockery of marriage and glorify every kind of deviant sex imaginable. Recently, Murdoch bought the Direct TV satellite company that makes a HUGE profit from its channels that sell hard core, XXX rated pornographic movies to their subscribers. Murdoch is a world-class smut peddler.

As for football, out of all the major professional sports, the NFL is in the best shape financially. They have tremendous television ratings, a solid fan base, and is by far the most popular sport in America. So to kick-off the new season, why did the NFL have to resort to Britney Spears. Listen, Britney is what she is. She is a savvy young woman that has learned how to prostitute herself to make a fortune. She is no different than a woman that trolls the streets at night looking for men to pay her $20 for sex, she just charges more. So why did the NFL, that is already ENORMOUS, have to bring in the scantily-clad Britney sex show to kick off the NFL season? Because SEX SELLS, my friend.

Just ask the advertisers that fight over themselves and spend hundreds of millions of dollars to get those precious minutes on NFL and college football games. What used to be the fully-clothed "spokeswoman," is now the nearly-naked woman selling beer, soft drinks, cars, and everything else. The commercials during football games have become wars to see who can show the most flesh.

Some reading this today may think it is being written by an 80-year-old nun that never had sex in her life. I am 45 years old and enjoy a very healthy sex life with my wife of 20 years. Sex is a WONDERFUL gift from God that is intended to be shared by a man and woman in the bonds of marriage. Every day, I receive over 40,000 prayer requests. A sexual issue is involved in well over half of those prayer requests. The more mainstream promoting sex outside of God's intended plan becomes, the more prayer requests I will continue to receive involving sexual issues.

Never forget, satan is here to steal, kill, and destroy. He is the great perverter, taking the perfection of God and perverting it. Sex has ALWAYS been one of his greatest traps and those who buy into his perversion can have their lives destroyed.

I love you and care about you so much. Does this mean you should stop watching FOX News? Does this mean you should stop watching football? Those are choices you have to make. I will say that some men I counsel who struggle with issues of lust, have stopped watching television all together. For most however, this word today is a WARNING. Men that would never think of watching an X-rated movie, are being hit with similar images watching something as ordinary as the news, something as ingrained into most men's lives as football. And don't think this is only targeted at men. More and more women are now being attacked by these mainstream sexual images as well.

I will be praying for you today. I pray today that you will guard your minds. I pray today that you will be AWARE of those images that you are allowing into your mind. I will still watch FOX News, but I do more listening than watching, and I simply tune out their obligatory "sex stories" they run with each day. I will still watch football. I simply find things to occupy my mind during the commercials.

We are in a war my friend. Satan is a defeated foe and is playing for keeps. Like in any war, you have to stay on guard at all times. Read the sixth chapter of Ephesians today. All of those in God's army need to have their armor on at all times. That is why I tell you all the time to not neglect your daily time with the Lord. That is where you will get the strength to stand and fight when the attacks come each day. Those attacks can come at any time, even when you are watching the news or a football game.

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller